Calgary-based Black Diamond Group (Top 1000 rank: 221) rents out and sells temporary housing and offices.
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Canadian junior oil and gas producer Terra Energy Corp. (TT-T) on Monday shut down production, ceased operations and announced the resignation of directors and officers, after its lender, Canadian Western Bank, demanded full repayment of its debt.
Terra, which was producing around 3,600 barrels of oil equivalent from its operations in western Alberta and north-eastern British Columbia, said that at current low oil prices the cost of operating was more than its revenue.
The company is the latest Canadian producer to fall victim to the prolonged slump in global crude prices, which have plunged by nearly two-thirds since June 2014.
Canadian Western Bank served notice on Friday demanding repayment in full of the $15.9 million owed by the company by March 28.
"The company's lender has declined to provide further financial support to Terra and there is no other means of financing available to the company at this time," Terra said in a statement on its website.
Canadian Western Bank has not announced a receiver to sell Terra's assets and declined to comment on the matter.
Since September 2015 Terra has sold off around C$12 billion in oil and gas assets to help pay down debt, but the amount was not enough to cover all its liabilities.
Terra also said the asset sales in Alberta were hampered by the company having a liability management rating of below one - the ratio that regulators use to assess whether a company's revenues cover the cost of fully reclaiming all its oil wells.
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Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI-T), which rents and sells portable workforce accommodations, is cutting its monthly dividend to 2.5 cents from 5 cents amid the ongoing slump in the energy sector. The stock was halted Monday morning and resumed trading midday. It was up 6 per cent around 2 p.m. ET.
"The board and management of the company remain focused on making prudent financial and operating decisions during this continuing period of uncertainty in the resource services sector," stated CEO Trevor Haynes in a release on Monday.
"We believe that this further dividend reduction is necessary in order to realign the dividend payout to our historic range while providing greater financial flexibility for reducing debt, or funding investment opportunities."
The change is effective immediately for the March dividend.
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Bankers Petroleum Ltd (BNK-T), one of Albania's largest foreign investors, said on Sunday it has agreed to be acquired by affiliates of China's Geo-Jade Petroleum Corp for $575-million.
Bankers Petroleum said it will be bought by firms owned by the Chinese oil and gas exploration and production company for $2.20 per share. Shares of Bankers Petroleum closed at $1.11 in Toronto on Friday.
The company said its corporate and technical headquarters will remain in Calgary. The deal is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting before the end of May. Bankers Petroleum said the company will be delisted after the sale.
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Westport Innovations Inc. (WPT-T, WPRT-Q) says its shareholders have approved a merger with Fuel Systems.
"Our shareholders have spoken and clearly believe, as do we, that this merger will create a stronger company with greater scale, global reach and substantial synergies," stated Westport CEO David Demers. "We look forward to working together as one company as we await the results of Fuel Systems' shareholder meeting."
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Pacific Exploration & Production Corp. (PRE-T) says revenue decreased to $2.8-million in 2015, in line with analysts' expectations and compared to $4.95-million in 2014, due to the drop in oil prices.
"In 2015, revenue included $290-million in realized gains from oil hedging contracts entered into in 2014 and early 2015, helping to support the company's realized prices above market rates during the year," the company stated.
Its average sales price per barrel of crude oil (boe) and natural gas was $48.51 per boe for the year down from $85.35/boe a year earlier.
Its net loss for the year was $5.5-million, largely due to the $4.9-million non-cash impairment charge taken mainly on oil and gas assets and exploration expenses.
"It is important to highlight that this impairment is required by International Financial Reporting Standards accounting rules and can be reversed in whole or in part once market conditions improves with a better oil price trend," the company said.
Meanwhile, Pacific Exploration said it chose not to make an interest payment due March 28, as the company works with debtholders to restructure debt.
The company, which warned on Friday that its auditor had raised significant doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, was due to make a $25.6 million interest payment next Monday. The company has a 30-day grace period.
Pacific Exploration suffered a major setback in March last year, when Colombia's state-run oil company, Ecopetrol, said it would not extend its contract with the Canadian company to operate Colombia's highest-producing oilfield.
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Slate Retail REIT (SRT.UN-T) says it has an agreement to buy the Charles Town Plaza in the Washington-Baltimore area in the U.S. for $20.9-million (U.S.)
The property is 99-per-cent occupied and anchored by a Wal-Mart, the company said.
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Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (PWT-T) says it has negotiated the sale of an additional $230-million of assets, including a formerly core property in the Slave Point area of northern Alberta.
The Slave Point transaction is worth $148-million. The sale of non-core assets will add a further $80-million in cash.
Penn West says the sale of Slave Point will reduce its overall operating costs.
It also expects to have room to develop and grow through its Cardium play south of Slave Point and its Viking play on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
It says the effective sale date for the Slave Point transaction will be Jan. 1 and the deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2016. The sale of non-core assets is also to close during the second quarter.
Since the beginning of 2015, Penn West has completed or arranged $1-billion in cash asset sales.
"Although Slave Point has long been one of our core assets, given the current outlook for commodity prices, we had no development activity planned for at least the balance of this year," Penn West chief financial officer David Dyck said Monday.
"While we believe that Slave Point offers upside, the extension of our Viking play and recent Cardium performance provide us with ample development and growth opportunities and the most attractive rates of return in our portfolio. We are confident that our over 1,400 sections of land between those two plays will give us significant running room going forward."
With files from Reuters and The Canadian Press